“Securing the Region’s Green Infrastructure: The Challenge, The Tools”

  “Securing the Region’s Green Infrastructure: The Challenge, The Tools”

As recently reported in The Washington Post, the greater Washington region lost green space to new development at a rate estimated to be between 28 to 43 acres a day during the period from 1986 to 2000. Measured using satellite imagery, the region saw the percentage of developed land go from 12 per cent to around 18 per cent. The Green Infrastructure Demonstration Project, undertaken by the Metropolitan Council of Governments and the National Park Service, has underscored the need for greater public and private effort to preserve and link the region’s “green infrastructure.” Absent greater effort, charismatic resources such as the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River may become substantially impaired. 

Please plan to join J. Glenn Eugster (Assistant Regional Director for Partnerships, National Park Service National Capitol Region), James McElfish (Senior Attorney and Director, ELI Sustainable Use of Land Program) and other speakers for a discussion of the challenges and the potential tools to build the Region’s green infrastructure. McElfish is the author’s of ELI’s recent guide, Nature Friendly Ordinances  <http://www.elistore.org/books_detail.asp?ID=10989> as well as numerous studies on sustainable growth practices and policies in the Chesapeake region. 

When: September 9, 2004

                        12 noon to 1:45 p.m.

(Speakers will begin at 12:15 p.m.)

Where: Seventh Floor Conference Room

Environmental Law Institute

1616 P Street, N.W.

  Washington, DC 

RSVP:  (202) 939_3858 or e_mail <mcmurrin@eli.org>.

Attendees are invited to bring a brown bag lunch.